


and a little bit of pixie dust

by RenderedReversed



Series: this ain't no fairytale [13]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Item Shop AU, Recettear AU, adventurer!Tom, best read in series order, sorcerer!shopkeeper!Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 07:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15432252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenderedReversed/pseuds/RenderedReversed
Summary: Harry and Tom are finally home, and business resumes as per usual. However, now there's a surprising addition to Hedwig's staff.Or, in which Colin makes a new friend.





	and a little bit of pixie dust

Harry and Tom are acting strange.

That's the only way Colin can describe it. They'd come back from their trip full of tension—not of the _we-just-had-a-fight-and-we're-not-on-speaking-terms-anymore_ variety, but the sort that comes with loving someone and having to make hard decisions because of it; all searching looks behind the other's back, tuned-in attentiveness but kept at a distance.

Colin knows the feeling intimately, but there isn't much he can actually do about it. He hasn't the slightest clue what they're being so fatalistic about, and even if he did, the problems of such strong characters as Harry and Tom are sure to be…daunting, to say the least. Out of his capabilities, definitely.

He still remembers the calm ease at which Harry had eliminated all his problems in one fell swoop and shivers.

Harry is just so…invincible! What can Colin do for him that he can't do for himself?

"Colin?"

Colin jolts. Harry is peeking out of the storeroom. He does one last sweep around the shop—it's off-hours, so Hedwig's is relatively empty—to make sure there aren't any customers trying to catch his attention, and then walks over.

"Sir?" Colin asks.

Harry smiles a little sheepishly. "I've been working on getting our newest one settled, and, well...thought I'd introduce you to her now."

"A new employee?"

"Something like that. Come on in."

Colin follows Harry to his workbench, where what appears to be a potted plant sits on the tabletop. He doesn't recognize the plant species; it just looks like one big bulbous bud the size of a particularly large and particularly lumpy garlic bulb.

Colin watches as the layers—leaves?—peel away, revealing a fairy no taller than his thumb.

"This," Harry says, "is Pix. Treat her well, yeah?"

Pix yawns and blinks her watery eyes up at him. A pair of translucent, filmy insect wings peel away from her back, and Colin nearly startles when she zooms up to meet him. She's faster than she looks.

Pix squints at him. It's almost like _he's_ the small one and she's the giant. Colin nearly goes cross-eyed trying to look at her before she's zooming away again, far among the potion bottles of the shelves.

Colin blinks. Harry is smiling at him.

"Treat him well, yeah?" Harry calls, angling towards the way she left. "He's my best employee."

Colin flushes despite himself. "She...can understand us? Can she talk too, or does she use sign language? Wait, if she's a fairy, does that mean she likes honey water? Should I get her some? Oh, wait—you're not supposed to watch fairies while they're eating! They're terribly nervous creatures. Did I frighten her? Should I apolo-"

"Slow down there," Harry says, but not unkindly. "Pix isn't a fairy. She's a pixieseedling. They're very resourceful creatures, so you can rely on her to help out around the shop. Ah, and, hm—she'll let you know if she needs anything."

As if right on cue, Pix returns, struggling to balance a bundle of beansprouts on her back. Colin instinctively opens his palms as an impromptu landing pad, and without a moment's hesitation, Pix tumbles into them.

She's a lot lighter than Colin imagined. He thinks he hasn't known the true meaning of 'dainty' till now—almost like a petal's weight in his hands, soft and real and just enough for gravity to take, but not quite.

Pix takes the beansprouts and unceremoniously stuffs them into his shirt pocket. Completely out of his depth, Colin looks to Harry.

...Who laughs.

"Looks like she likes you," says Harry. "Go on, thank her for the gift."

Colin blinks. He looks down at Pix, who is staring up at him with equal parts excitement and anxiety.

...Colin melts. He has no idea what's going on, doesn't even know what a pixieseedling is, but so goes a day at Hedwig's—always something new to learn on the job.

"Thank you, Pix," he says, very polite and as earnest as he can. When one of the hastily-stuffed beansprouts appear close to falling, he tucks it back into his pocket like it's made of gold.

This evidently pleases Pix, as she flutters up and presses a featherlight kiss to his nose.

"Well then, I'll leave you two to man the front. Call if you need anything, and—oh yes, if Tom drops by, tell him his potions are expected to come in around five, would you?"

"Yes, sir!" Colin says, and salutes for good measure. His cheeks burn. Oh, hell—why did he do that? That was so _stupid_ —

Pix tugs at his collar. She points to the door, slides into his pocket as if it were home, and then stares expectantly up at him.

Right. Work to do.

Colin takes a deep breath, chances a look at Harry again—who is engrossed in the other various ingredients on his work table once more—and then heads out.

If there aren't any customers that need help, he should at least go dust the armor.

* * *

Evening comes as busy as usual, with adventurers coming in with their newly hunted loot or seeking to restock their potions supply. Harry is currently occupied by a party of said adventurers inquiring about one of the enchanted weapons in the storefront, which leaves Colin to man the counter.

Well, Colin _and_ Pix, that is.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

"Good evening," the customer replies, "I'd like to sell this bundle of adder's tongue. Found them in my backyard, I did."

Colin blinks. He looks down at the ingredient and tries to go through his mental list of prices, but realizes he's never actually dealt with adder's tongue before.

"Of course. One mo—" he doesn't get to finish. Pix flits out of his pocket and immediately begins to expect the herbs on the counter, shifting through its leaves and inspecting its odds and ends.

Both Colin and the customer stare, rather befuddled.

"Pix?" Colin asks.

Pix turns back to him and gestures excitedly. She zooms back up to his pocket and pulls out several stalks of beansprout, then spreads them across the counter top.

 _1…5…_ "2?" Colin mutters.

Pix shakes her head. She pushes the last two beansprouts together and jabs her finger down at them.

"S," says Colin. "Oh! Sickles."

Pix nods. She turns to look at the customer, but when Colin doesn't say anything, she pivots on her heels and looks back at him imploringly.

"Uh," Colin says. "We'll give you fifteen sickles for it."

"Sure," says the customer, appearing pleasantly surprised. Colin sends a doubtful look down to Pix, but she doesn’t seem to be paying attention to him anymore, already busy with taking the bundle of adder's tongue into her arms.

Colin rushes to open the register and exchange the agreed upon amount before Pix takes off with the lot. The second the coins are in the customer's hands, she does—zipping off towards Harry to play show-and-tell with her bounty.

"Thanks, come again," Colin blurts, waving the customer away. Harry's walking over. Oh Merlin, Harry's walking over _with Pix_.

He…doesn't _look_ upset…

"Fifteen sickles for a bundle of high quality adder's tongue," Harry says. "A great steal."

Colin blinks. "But…it's so small."

"Ah, but see how green they are? And how long the tongue is? This is the useful part, right here…"

Colin blinks again. He turns to look at Pix, who is perched on Harry's shoulder looking very smug indeed.

"Pix is something of a…herbologist, I suppose you can say," Harry explains. "She's an expert on rare herbs and plants alike. If you have any questions, feel free to ask her."

"O-okay..."

Harry smiles and pats his shoulder. "Well, back to work!" he says, and leaves them with that.

Colin looks down at Pix. Pix looks up at Colin.

"Guess I'll be leaving those to you then," he says.

Hands on her hips, Pix beams up at him and nods. She raises a hand palm up and waits.

Colin, slowly, presses the pad of his index finger to it. It feels like the slightest force from him could knock her over, but she doesn't flinch away.

"Hello," the next customer says, "I'd like to purchase this."

Colin looks up. The customer presents forth a new set of potions—experimental, Harry'd told him a few days ago, to see how well they'd sell.

"Of course," Colin says, putting on his friendliest smile. "That'd be five galleons, please."

As the customer reaches for their coin pouch, Pix is already opening the register.

* * *

"I'll need to hire some more workers soon…"

"Things getting too busy?"

Harry looks up. Tom leans against the kitchen doorway, arms crossed. A delicious scent drifts out of the sack dangling in his hands.

"Something like that," Harry says. He closes Hedwig's accounting book. "We're in a prime location to barter with adventurers, but first, we need higher quality goods. It'd be best if I could hire my own potions master…"

The harder the dungeon, the more specific survival gear adventurers would need. Not only antidotes for the stronger poisons, but also salves to deal with severe burns, frostbite, and various other magical maladies…and that was only on the potions side.

Harry sighs.

"You could try striking a deal with another supplier," Tom says, all of a sudden. "Or even the Adventurer's Guild."

"Mmm…frankly speaking, we just don't have anything to offer them that they aren't getting somewhere else already." Harry nibbles on his quill. "Licensing is also an issue. I'd prefer not to use _that_ unless it's an emergency. If we could get a potions master with adequate credentials… I'll have to think on it, I suppose."

"Dinner first?"

Harry smiles. "Please. How was your trip to the library? Find the book you were looking for?"

Tom's hum is noncommittal as he sets about unpacking the meal he'd brought all the way from a diner in Ravenclaw District. He never tells Harry where he got it. Someday, Harry's going to track down that store and try everything on their menu.

"Not yet," says Tom, buttering himself a slice of bread, "but it's only a matter of time."

 _Time._ Yes. There are other matters, too, that require Harry's time and attention.

A familiar heaviness settles itself inside his chest.

"If only we could have more of it," Harry murmurs. "The things we often take for granted are just as often that which we have little of."

"How very maudlin of you," Tom says, and serves a cut of steak onto his plate.

Harry looks up.

"But not untrue, I suppose," Tom continues. "Eat. There's time at least for that."

Harry huffs a laugh. "Are you sure about that?"

"If not, we'll _make_ time."

"Words of wisdom."

"As is everything I say."

"Oh, _that_ I'm not sure about."

Tom sends him a look. He pointedly steals the last slice of pumpernickel bread for himself.

Harry laughs and passes his butter. "Don't get angry, Tom," he says, and nudges their feet together under the table.

"I take back what I said. The only one who doesn't have time to eat is you."

"Oh? And what'll I be doing instead?"

"Worrying and sighing over your books, I suspect," Tom snips back. "Do cry somewhere else, though. Tears don't pair well with vegetable soup."

"Shove off," Harry says. He steals the soup.

**Author's Note:**

> A brief interlude. It's been awhile since we've checked in with Hedwig's (and Colin)!


End file.
